Wells that produce gas and liquids such as water, oil or petroleum condensates are often incapable of clearing the liquids from the wellbore as gas is produced, especially in depleted reservoirs and low-rate gas wells. These liquids accumulate over time until they exert enough backpressure within the wellbore and on the reservoir to reduce the flow of natural gas, or stop it completely.
Prior art methods for dealing with this problem have included the use of down-hole pumps. The problem is that these methods are labor intensive, require regular attention by employees, and some use expensive equipment to provide an external source of lifting capacity to clear the wellbore of the liquids.
What is needed is a way to optimize the production from oil and gas wells where the reservoir delivers a sufficient quantity of gas to lift the accumulated liquids to surface using the reservoir's own energy. In addition, any proposed solution should be capable of running automatically once set for the operating conditions of a particular well without need for constant attention.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for an improved device for swabbing wellbores.